Intro to technical exercises

Technical Exercises Overview

Alright then, guys. So, what do we mean by technical exercises?

Key Concepts:

• Scales
• Arpeggios
• Chords

These are incredibly useful tools. You use them all the time in your day-to-day playing, whether you realize it or not. Although these exercises may not be as fun as the pieces you pick up initially, once you've mastered them, there's absolutely no end to what they allow you to do. They are really useful creative tools that you're going to have great fun using.

The Importance of Mastery

You've got to get them down first in their rudimentary format. We'll look at more creative applications of these later on, including:

• Using them within songs
• Playing solos
• Improvising

But for now, I'm just going to demonstrate them as required for your grade.

Key Information

Before I demonstrate, there are a couple of things worth noting:

1. Demonstrations:

   • The demonstrations I'm going to play are what's written in your book.
   • It's crucial to read the preamble before the technical exercises.

2. Specific Keys:

   • Depending on your grade, you're required to play scales in specific keys.
   • For example, it might say to play exercises A and B in keys A, B, and C.

So please do read the information carefully, it's really important if you're planning on taking the exam that you've prepared the exercises in the right keys.

Moving Exercises to Different Keys

I'll show you the exercises demonstrated in your book so you can see the fingerings that I use.

• To move the exercises into a different key, take the same shape and move it to the starting note you want to begin on.
• This will prove useful later on, especially in the more creative sections, as it will enable you to play some pretty amazing solos.

Riff Exercises

One further point: I'm not going to demonstrate the riff exercise.

• If you're comfortable with the scales and arpeggios, the riffs are based around these shapes and exercises.
• It should be just one step further for you to work out what these riffs will be if you need to move them.

This is a valuable skill for you to cultivate on your own.

Stylistic Studies

We'll also look at the stylistic studies in a section called Stylistic Techniques. This segment will focus on:

• The techniques involved within those studies
• How to use them effectively

Alright then, here we go with the demos of the technical exercises for your grade. They're all played at the correct tempo for your gradebook.